Thursday, December 18, 2008

I took a walk last night and I happened to see this quote on a random white van.

Theater is a light in a world so dark it casts a shadow on the sun.

- Random White Van

That sent my idle mind on a mission to logically tear apart the quote if taken literally.

No matter how low the albedo1 of Earth may become, it will never cast a visible shadow on the sun for several reasons.

The sun is the main light source in the solar system. It would be like being in a room lit by a single light bulb, and expecting your hand to cast a shadow on the light bulb. It isn't going to happen, no matter how dark your hand may be.

The albedo of an object has nothing to do with the shadow it casts anyway.

Let's say that theater is some brilliant light source (I know, humor me here). Theater itself is on Earth, so the light from theater would be radiating out from Earth. Going back to the light bulb analogy, there would now be two lit light bulbs in the room (again, these are the only light sources in the room), would you expect them to cast shadows on each other? (No, they wouldn't.)

Ok, so maybe this light and dark thing isn't about actual light or reflectivity. Let's say this light and dark thing is a more emotional thing, as I suspect was the true meaning of the quote. What does the sun or shadows have to do with it, then?

I know, I know... It's just a quote, just roll with it... But damnit, my idle mind has to do something when I'm out on a walk!

1:Yay, now I get to have a little side-note about albedo not being the same as libido, just like Drek did.